Trust is a blade that cuts deepest when wielded by a friend.
The weight of Morganna’s threat lingered like a poison in the air. Warborn Academy no longer felt like a place of learning or growth—it was a cage. Every corridor whispered suspicion; every glance felt like a trap.
Lucian and I moved cautiously, shadows tethered tightly by the curse and the fragile thread of trust we barely dared to admit. We weren’t just enemies or reluctant allies anymore—we were marked.
Marked by the prophecy. Marked by fear. Marked by betrayal.
Nyssa.
I should have known.
She had been my closest friend here, the one who broke through the sneers and scorn of the others. She had offered fleeting kindness in a place designed to hurt me.
Her easy smile, which made me drop my guard, now haunted me.
It started with a feeling.
Unease was settling in my bones when I caught her watching me too long in the dining hall. A flicker of hesitation when our fingers brushed by accident in the library.
I pushed it away.
U
